Short term memory loss

Sigh. Here's my venting out again (thankfully these are few and far between... at least i try to keep them that way).

i occasionally (well, perhaps too often than i would like) receive patients who i'm certain needs beyond their medical problem at the time, an indepth study and probe into the possibility of severe brain damage and memory loss (particularly short term).

Let me qualify...

Now and then (or rather more often than not) i get patients that literally beg to be admitted (most of whom actually have very clear and even urgent indications for admission).

So i do.

We then manage them as best as we can. We put our hearts and souls and not to mention brain matter into seeing them get better (and in some cases crawl back out from their grave)... and by the grace of God... they do improve.

In fact, in these particular cases apparently the improvement is too good and too much for these patients too handle... because all of sudden they forget the state they were in when they first came, they forget how they begged us (or their condition begged us) to be admitted, they forget how they literally threw themselves at our mercies... and suddenly decide on their own (again based on nothing) that their well enough to go home despite our assertion to them to continue with the treatment till we deem them fit and safe to go home.

They've developed some kind of bizarre memory loss!!!

And in some cases just overnight!!!

It's either that or somehow while they were admitted and no one was looking they went ahead and got themselves a medical degree (heck, the way some of them act... it's like their suddenly specialists)!

And again, putting their lives and those they love at risk.

ARGHHHH!!!! (i'm getting tired of all this internal screaming)

And on top of that in some even more peculiar cases the patients even ask when we're supposed to seem them again in the clinic to manage their problem.

HELLO! We're not letting you go yet! You're the one who wants to leave against our recommendation and then now you're asking us to follow-up and follow-through!!!

SHEESSSH!

i tell you, i think the problem with a lot of these people is not their physical condition or medical ailment but their mentality.

Their attitudes.

Their ignorance.

Their outright disregard for professional (and necessary) help.

i mean i've even had patients who were in the ICU (intensive care unit) demand to leave it on their own accord.

and it leaves me wondering... why do these people come to the hospital in the first place then!

Just stay at home or wherever else they feel appropriate and manage their conditions themselves.

Why use our resources, our energies and our efforts... only to lay them to waste.

And funny thing is (well, not funny at all actually) these patients almost inadvertently require readmission... in the very near future.

But again, only to ask to be discharged against our recommedation again (to be fair some do learn from their 'mistakes'... but, my oh my, at what a cost!).

i recommend an urgent psychiatric review for all these kinds of patients.

Seriously.